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I'm straying out of my usual cricket-focus to wish Dion Nash and Bernice Mene a very happy life together!

The pair began dating in late 1999 and, since then, have attracted considerable (and often unwanted) media attention. Nash, now 31, was a front-line member of the Black Caps cricket side and a former New Zealand captain while Mene, 28, captained the New Zealand and Southland netball teams. Later Mene moved to Nash's hometown of Auckland, despite the gruelling commute to her Invercargill-based netball commitments. In January 2002, Mene made her decision to retire from the Silver Ferns while staying at Nash's Waiheke Island property.

On Valentine's Day that year, Nash proposed. The two sports stars were engaged, ironically, just a month after Mene had told the Australian Women's Weekly that marriage was not on the agenda. Nash's retirement from cricket and Mene's swansong with the Southern Sting followed in mid-2002, at last allowing the couple to spend more time together than had been possible as elite sportspeople. While both have denied that they influenced each others' decisions to retire, their bond and, no doubt, their shared experience of injury was clearly a great support to both of them in ending their careers as it had been while they still played. They spent a few weeks travelling together in South America before returning to Auckland and their wedding plans.

After a year-long engagement, Dion Nash and Bernice Mene married on February 1st, 2003 in an open-air ceremony on Waiheke Island before 200 family and friends. The guests included numerous big names of New Zealand sport; former cricketers Roger Twose and Adam Parore; mountaineer Graham Dingle; netballers Tania Dalton, Donna Loffhagen and Debbie Matoe; and Mene's own parents, to name a few. Still, a relaxed garden party feel seems to have been achieved in the beautiful natural setting of Pie Melon Bay, rather than a "who's who of sport".

Nash and Mene had followed the path of Chris Cairns and others by signing a lucrative exclusive photo deal with the Australian Womens Weekly - a surprising move, perhaps, given Nash's pronounced reluctance to discuss his personal life, though Mene has always seemed more willing to talk. Hopefully the "celebrity" aspect and that contract didn't detract from the big day. According to the Sunday Star Times - reporting, presumably, from the top of a hill with the aid of binoculars - the venue was peppered with security guards and Mene was cloistered in umbrellas when she mingled with her guests!

Aside from the "sports king and queen" gloss that has sometimes been attached to Nash and Mene - particularly by the Southland Times - the pair are great people with plenty in common and, so far as the public may glean, make a great match. Mene has said that she considers Nash to be her "best friend". Nash's romantic streak was glimpsed on February 14. So, the best of luck to them, and may they enjoy a long and happy marriage!

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